The Japanese 25th Army was formed on 5 July 1941 under the
Imperial General Headquarters. It was transferred to the control of the
Japanese Seventh Area Army under the
Southern Expeditionary Army Group on 6 November 1941.
Battle of Malaya The
Battle of Malaya began when the 25th Army launched an
amphibious assault on the northern coast of British Malaya on 8 December 1941. Japanese troops landed at
Kota Bharu and advanced down the eastern coastline of the
Malay Peninsula. This was made in conjunction with
landings at
Pattani and
Songkhla in
Thailand, where units then proceeded south overland across the
Thailand-Malayan border to attack the western portion of Malaya. The Japanese were initially resisted by
III Corps of the
British Indian Army and several
British Army battalions. The Japanese quickly isolated individual Indian units defending the coastline, before concentrating their forces to surround the defenders and force their surrender. The Japanese forces held a slight advantage in numbers on the ground in northern Malaya, and were significantly superior in
close air support,
armour, co-ordination,
tactics and experience, with the Japanese units having fought in
China. The Japanese also used
bicycle infantry and
light tanks, which allowed swift movement of their forces overland through the terrain that was covered with thick
tropical rainforest. After
defeating British and Indian troops at Jitra Japanese forces supported by tanks moved south from Thailand on 11 December, overwhelming British defenses.
Penang was bombed daily by the Japanese from 8 December, and abandoned on 17 December. Arms, boats, supplies and a working radio station were left in haste to the Japanese. The evacuation of Europeans from Penang, with local inhabitants being left to the mercy of the Japanese, caused much embarrassment for the British and alienated them from the local population.
Kuala Lumpur fell unopposed on 11 January 1942. The
11th Indian Division managed to delay the Japanese advance at the
Battle of Kampar for a few days, which was followed by the
disastrous Slim River battle, in which two Indian brigades were practically annihilated. , showing the uniform worn by Japanese soldiers and a bicycle used By mid-January the Japanese had reached
Johore where, on 14 January, they encountered troops from the
Australian 8th Division, commanded by
Major-General Gordon Bennett, for the first time in the campaign. During engagements with the Australians, the Japanese experienced their first major tactical setback, due to the stubborn resistance put up by the Australians at
Gemas. The battle, centered on the
Gemensah Bridge, proved costly for the Japanese, who suffered up to 600 casualties but the bridge itself, which had been demolished during the fighting, was repaired within six hours. As the Japanese attempted to outflank the Australians to the west of Gemas, one of the bloodiest battles of the campaign began on January 15 on the peninsula's West coast near the
Muar River. Bennett allocated the weak 45th Indian Brigade (a new and half trained formation) to defend the river's South bank but the unit was outflanked by Japanese units landing from the sea and the Brigade was effectively destroyed with its commander,
Brigadier H. C. Duncan, and all three of his battalion commanders killed. On 20 January, further Japanese landings took place at
Endau, in spite of an air attack by
Vildebeest bombers. The final Commonwealth defensive line in Johore of
Batu Pahat–
Kluang–
Mersing was now being attacked along its full length. On 27 January 1942 Percival received permission from the commander of the
American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, General
Archibald Wavell, to order a retreat across the
Johore Strait to the island of
Singapore.
Relocation to Sumatra ; Middle-left: General
Moritake Tanabe; Middle-right: Governor Yano.) Following the successful capture of Malaya and Singapore, the IJA 25th Army served primarily as a
garrison force for the occupied territories. As the situation grew increasingly desperate of Japanese forces towards the middle of 1945, the IJA 25th Army came under the operational control of the
Japanese Seventh Area Army, and its headquarters was transferred to
Bukittinggi in the highlands of central
Sumatra, which it held until the
surrender of Japan in August 1945. ==List of Commanders==